With Cable Viewership Stalling, Connected TVs Are Poised To See More Growth And Ad Opportunities

With pay-TV growth slowing, viewership is expected to increasingly come from connected TVs, according to a Nielsen report released Tuesday.

Tapping the data of adRise, the largest connected TV distribution and monetization platform, Nielsen was able to identify two highly engaged segments who watch on smart TVs. There are the millennials, identified as those ages 25 to 49, who have college degrees and skew heavily female. Though this group is made up of light TV viewers, connected TVs fit broadly into their digital lifestyles. Contrasting the millennials are those who are 50 and older. More likely to be male, these viewers use connected TVs as a complement to the linear TV experience. "Cable viewership has plateaued. We're not seeing much growth, but a slight decline at about 1%," adRise founder and CEO Farhad Massoudi told Fast Company. "What that highlights over the next five to 10 years is that the growth of viewing will be from connected devices."

Compared with the general viewer, both of these groups are considered very active on social networks, especially on Facebook and Pinterest. The average adRise user spends 782.5 minutes on Facebook, compared with 403.9 minutes among non-adRise viewers. The report also found that though adRise users stream video on their computers, they prefer to watch Netflix and Hulu on smart TVs.

Massoudi expects set-top box sales to stay flat as consumers embrace connected TVs, a trend marketers should take note of as they develop multiscreen strategies. "A lot of [people] are complementing viewership with connected devices if they have cable," he said. "If they want to watch new stuff, it's easier to access that through video-on-demand applications on connected devices."